Cover Me, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar: American Skin (41 Shots)

Back in September 2016, when the U.S. presidential election was coming down to the home stretch (wow, that seems like so long ago), Mary J. Blige debuted a new show on Apple Music called The 411 with Mary J. Blige.

The debut episode featured presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Blige’s guest, and during the episode (and in the trailer below), while discussing police brutality Blige spontaneously sings a verse from Bruce’s “American Skin (41 Shots)” to Secretary Clinton:

At least, we thought it was spontaneous at the time.

Turns out that Blige had already recorded a full cover of the song with the help of rapper Kendrick Lamar, and she released it as a single not even a month later.

If you haven’t heard it before, trust me: you need to. It’s magnificent, even more powerful than Bruce’s original version:

Lamar’s additional lyrics add heightened resonance, and I’m sure Bruce approves–he’s always been one to adapt, reinvent, and rewrite when covering other artists.

In case they fly by a bit too quickly to fully appreciate, here are Lamar’s lyrics:

If I die right before I wake
Cross my heart, then I seal my fate
Life in the dark of the heartless
Looking at the remedy for all this

Everyday they look at you a target
Falling victim, them and
Him and her then this one, insensitivity
Talk bad religion, skin identity

Lack rash decision made by yours
Pack facility with the urban boy
Gun admitted he bear arm
The entity, arm and leg and head made to destroy

80% of the victim was yours
Maybe I get to relive years of war
Look on the corner, we been here before
Look at the momma, you seen tears before?

Pain bright and early
Rain, sleet, hail, snow, worry
More storm barricade the city
Prosecution, unhung jury

These days murder keep ’em busy
Sweet blood flowed on the gurney
Yellow tape tied around the street
Colin Kaepernick was more than worthy

I could reverse the day, reverse the time
Reverse the block, reverse the gun, reverse the shot
Reverse the law, reverse the flaw
That made us all the versions of a danger flock

Reverse the love, reverse the hate
Reverse the hope, reverse the way we playing sin
Reverse the moment, so we can live again
Life and times of the American skin